Lost | Beatrice & Cassandra
“Me?” Beatrice felt a flush of color rise to her cheeks at the implication, but she quickly returned to her normal complexation as she shook her head - covering her surprise with a laugh, “Now, I know you are being ridiculous.” She said it as though the fact that she might have feelings for Xavier York could not be further from the truth. She did not think that her sister truly suspected it, but she dreaded the day that she would discover it. Cassandra would never let her marry anyone else and was not likely to forgive her if she did.
“Alright, that’s quite enough of that,” She replied, her voice assuming her rather serious “eldest sister” tone, which meant that she would likely scold Cassandra if she continued, “It wouldn’t do to have the servants come with our tea to overhear something like that.” Beatrice did not want her sister to unearth the details of her relationship with Xavier, but she liked to think of the servants learning about it all even less. If they found out about it, Beatrice was certain that the gossip would spread to every other household in Acela like wildfire and that was not something she needed her potential suitors to catch wind of.
Beatrice was glad when the conversation drifted back to their brother, “I hope we might find him someone who isn’t as silly as Miss Parker, but with all of her wealth. I should hope that he would love her, too.” Even Beatrice knew that that was a tall order. Better she be silly than cruel, and Beatrice knew that the Astley estate needed as much, financially, as could be had from their marriages. She hoped to save them all with her own union, but it seemed more and more likely that Alexander, at least, would also have to make an advantageous match, as well as herself, so that Astley would be secure and the other three could marry as they would.
"I suppose such an eligible lady does not exist, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying to find her. He seems rather disinterested in all the potentials, as of now, but I think he’s simply averse to the idea of marrying, just yet. He is still so terribly young.“ Although he was a good deal older than Beatrice cared to realize. He would always be her baby brother and would have to have sprouted gray hairs before Beatrice began to urge him to take a wife.
Beatrice had hoped that he might have confided his troubles to Cassandra: as it was clear, now to both, that something was certainly pressing on his mind. She wouldn’t have wanted Cass to betray his trust, but at least, she would have been comforted in the fact that he had at least taken measures to unburden himself. "That is what I suppose it to be,” Beatrice replied, “I am sure the responsibility of it all seems overwhelming … do you think perhaps one of us ought to try to speak with him? Or should we trust that he will come to us, in time, if he wishes to?” Alexander could be so terribly proud and stubborn; it wasn’t always easy to know what the best course was.
For a moment, Cassandra’s gaze hovered upon her sister’s: incisive, investigative. For all that she’d not meant to say she thought Beatrice might marry Xavier...it was also true and, thus, she regarded the reaction with no small amount of interest, however desirious she was to smooth over the entire affair. “Why, should not a man fit to be a future king not wed the eldest daughter of our clan?” she added, as if it had all been only a joke. “I am sorry it falls to your lot thus to be offered up as sacrificial lamb...and yet you could hardly have a more noble -- nor, I daresay, a more handsome -- husband, so perhaps you ought to thank to thank me for the nomination. I, meanwhile, shall doubtless be paired with a thoughtless rich toad of a husband while you galavant across the country with the best of men, so you best not complain to me of it.” Laughing, she took a sip of her tea.
Sighing as her sister adopted the dreaded ‘older sister’ voice, she relented. “As if the servants don’t adore you just as much as the rest of us!” she said, half a sigh and half a tease. “But I wouldn’t like to embarrass Mr. York so, for his sake,” she joshed, eyes sparkling. “I suppose we may let the subject alone for a stretch.”
Smiling softly, a touch sadly, Cassandra nodded. “Oh, yes, may our brother have the good sense to fall madly in love with the loveliest, the wealthiest, and the most sensible lady in all of Aclea. I believe that would put many of our troubles quite to rest. But who is this paragon, and how might we manage to bring them together?”
Sighing glumly as her sister owned that perhaps such a lady were nothing more than a work of fiction, she glanced out the window. “Who knows, perhaps our brother will manage to ensnare the Princess of Harmanil. Lords know the King is hardly likely to do the job creditably, parading his mistress around for all to see. Oh, it’s not that I’m especially shocked by the existence of such a person, but must he make such an exhibition of her before one who might otherwise wed him and thus improve the fortunes of the whole nation? But, then, perhaps that is the goal...perhaps the king is just as loathe as the rest of us to wed against his own hopes and inclination for the greater good. For that much, at least, I find I cannot fault him, though I daresay the princess seems too good for him.”
Absently, Cassandra ran a finger across the gold accent at the edge of her saucer. This was, indeed, a worthy inquiry, but Cassandra found there was no good answer to it. “I...suppose we might try both?” she suggested. “That is, a two-pronged approach. It is clear, after all, that our brother wrestles with something, so that leaves it down to us, I think, to help him shoulder the burden. We must make ourselves entirely available to him...without coming directly to it, I think. That is...speak openly and freely to him with a willing heart and ear...but not directly touch the subject. He’ll make his own choice, I’d wager, from there, don’t you think?”
tangentwithtanner
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
origamiaround
